Withings, the French company that sold itself to Nokia and then rescued itself back as an independent firm, has just put out its first product since the corporate separation. The new Withings Steel HR Sport watch looks much like a classic mechanical or quartz watch, but which is actually packed with multiple sensors and digital connectivity.
The device has an activity tracker, but one that is able to count various repetitive movements specifically related to activities such as boxing, skiing, or playing soccer. The user simply selects which activity is about to start and the watch will compensate accordingly. For example, if the watch knows you’re biking, it will understand that just because you’re not bouncing up and down, as when running, it doesn’t mean you’re not exerting a lot of energy. There is also a heart rate sensor and the watch can estimate VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen that is consumed during exercise, a useful but difficult to acquire metric. All this data is used to provide a summary of exertion, calories usage, and heart rate zone coverage after a workout, making future workouts more effective.
The watch has a small display showing live info on the heart rate and how long the current workout has been going on, but most of the data is displayed and analyzed on the Withings app. Since not much energy is used for a display, the phone is able to last for up to 25 days on a single charge, an impressive feat when some of today’s smartwatches end up being charged more than once a day.
Additionally, the Steel HR Sport can go as far as 160 feet (50 meters) underwater and being made of 316L stainless steel makes it a tough cookie.
It comes in either a white or black face and the bands are available in multiple colors.
Here’s a Withings promo video for the Steel HR Sport:
Product page: Steel HR Sport…
Via: Withings…